This book is a short read but a worthwhile one. It starts out unassuming with a man lost at sea getting found by a passing by ship. After a few interesting interactions he is thrown off the boat with some other passengers. The other passengers who are from a nearby island help the man get ashore and give him shelter. The man however starts to notice strange things on the island, mainly strange creatures. It is a very intriguing concept that the book talks about and to imagine the creatures that are roaming around the island. It is fascinating to see how the culture of the creatures develops through the book. This book has many interesting concepts that you can see emerge in this small community that mimics the world at large. This just makes the book more relatable as you read through it.
Tag: review
Book Review: Timeline by Michael Crichton
This was the book that got me back into reading and one of my favorite books written by Michael Crichton. I really like how Michael Crichton did his research on how the science of this would actually work. This makes reading the book very informational and realistic, something that I find very fun when done in science fiction books. You can really get behind the idea of going back in time to medieval days. The way the book is written it truly does take you to the time period and allows you to fully visualize what is going on in the medieval world. The characters that are explored in the book are all interesting and none of them really annoy me while reading the book. That is always something I look at when reading a book, because one really annoying character can really put a damper on the experience of the story, or at least that is what I think. So if you like medieval times and modern science fused together then this book is definitely for you.
Light Novel Review: Overlord
This light novel may be another story about being stuck in a game, or at least a world based on a game, but that doesn’t mean that Overlord is just the run of the mill story. It has a great story where the main protagonist is not just trapped in a game world, but actually taken to another world. Also the world that he ends up in is somewhat different from the actual game. This adds a nice twist to the story since the main protagonist does not have all the information about the world and therefore he can’t be all knowing about the world that he was just trapped in and has to collect information all over again. He is very overpowered compared to most of the inhabitants of the world, as far as we know. The other interesting thing is to see that the game that he was trapped in had non-human characters and he had chosen to be an undead, which means you get to see him slowly lose his humanity because he starts to take on the characteristics of the undead species. It is also amplified by the fact that he has to pretend to be a grand leader that can outperform his subordinates, which are also incredibly strong and smart compared to a regular human. This makes things interesting when he has to pretend to know what his subordinates plans are and not interfere with them, unless he wants them to find out he is an unfit leader. That brings me to all the characters that appear in this story, most already being all of the NPCs of Nazarick. They all have a unique personality that were set up by the other people in Ainz’s guild, or as the NPCs call them: “Supreme Beings”. They essentially worship them as gods and have no sympathy for humanity. It is only Ainzs’ human physice that holds them back from massacring the surrounding villages. The main plot of the story is Ainz trying to find out if the other guild members got stuck in this new world or not, and his subordinates mistaking his wishes for world domination. So if you want a good story with a crazy cast of characters then I would recommend reading this light novel.
Light Novel Review: The Rising of the Shield Hero
This is were the anime was adapted from and I know there has been some controversy over how the story begins, but if you can get past that then it is a great story to read. I like how they made the main protagonists character completely different from most, it makes for a nice change of pace. The whole concept of the world is also unique compared to most novels that have a story similar to this one. This is a story based on being transported to another world that have mechanics like a game, not being transported into a game. This difference is made clear throughout the novels. I admit that there are some parts of the story that can get weird, but I have that thought with most light novels at some point. All the characters in the novel are interesting and have there own motives. It is also the first time that I wasn’t really annoyed by a single character, which is a lot harder then it sounds. So if you are looking for a light novel that will give you a nice change of pace compared to others then start reading this novel. There are currently 21 volumes so you will have a lot of material to read and an interesting world to explore.
Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact Review
The review for this phone may be coming a late since it is 1 or 2 generations behind of what Sony has produced, but I have to write about the phone just because I like it so much. The Sony Xperia XZ1 compact is probably one of the only smart phones left that is below 5 inches, which for most people doesn’t matter, but for me that is one of the biggest selling points. Another big selling point is that you can now get the phone below $500. That’s not a bad price for a phone that has the specs of a flagship phone. This means that you get all the power of a flagship phone for under $500 and in a compact size. The phone has 4GB of Ram with a snapdragon 835 processor which gives this phone plenty of power to do whatever you need. It also has one of the best battery life’s that I have ever had with a smartphone. I can go all day using the phone and by the time I am done it has around 60% battery life left. It also has a stamina mode and a super stamina mode. The second mode goes a little overboard on shutting down almost all functionality of the phone but it does the job and conserves battery life considerably. The phone also has the Android 8.0 on it and can also be upgraded to Android 9.0 if you want the newest functionality. However do remember that with the newest OS means that this phone can’t be rooted so don’t try to do it and definitely don’t unlock the bootloader. This will cause a lot of the phones functionality to stop working and there is no way to go back. The phone has a very nice display even though it is only 720p. The phone also has a slot for expandable memory although it can no longer be used to store apps on. You can still store all the photos and videos you want on the expandable memory. The phone come with 32GB of storage which is decent although about 40% – 50% is used already with the OS and the pre-installed apps. The main set of apps that come pre-installed are the whole suit of Google apps and Amazon apps. Most of the pre-installed apps can only be disabled and not completely deleted. Other then that this phone is a great option to consider if you are looking at getting a new phone.
Do you have a xperia xz1? Leave a comment telling us how you like the phone.
The Writer’s Glove
If you are a developer then you have probably ran into the problem that your hands get cold after a long session of typing. Keeping your hands extended from the body can make it hard for some people to keep heat in their hands. It is very hard to find a solution because to type efficiently you need to have your bare hands, or at least your bare finger tips. Although if you try those gloves that have no fingertips on them then you quickly realize that this is not the perfect solution. The best way to keep your hands warm would be to have gloves that cover your hands fully but still allow you to type efficiently. This has been accomplished by “The Writer’s Glove”, which granted was developed for writers in mind, but we developers are writing technically. These gloves cover your entire hand, but they are thin enough that you can still feel the keyboard. They are made out of 100% silk, which makes them feel great on the hands. It does take a few typing sessions to get completely used to the feeling of typing with them on, but it becomes just as easy as typing without them. They also make a pair of the gloves that allows you to use the touchscreen of your phone, which means you won’t have to constantly take them off to deal with any notifications you get on your phone. You can get them from here and also supply them with the code SoftwareUpdates to get a discount on your order today.
Dolphin on Mac
Dolphin is a Gamecube emulator that you can use to play any old game from the Gamecube. This can bring back really great memories of playing classic games like “Phantasy Star Online Episodes 1 & 2”. It even lets you play multiplayer on those games across the internet. So you can easily connect with old friends and play like you used to do when everyone was little. There are also ways to get true online gaming for some games, if they still have a server going or you make your own server for the game. It is extremely simple to set up the program and start playing the game right away. You can find any old Gamecube game online to download. You can download Dolphin at their website.
If you are interested in emulators then you may want to know about OpenEMU for macs.
OpenEmu for Mac
OpenEmu is an emulator for the Mac that will allow you to play ROMs for any old game system that you want. This means that you can easily go back in time to any old game that you could possibly want to play. OpenEmu is really nice because you can have all of the old games you used to play in one place instead of having multiple emulators to play different ones. It also has easy functionality to save the state on any game or to put in cheat codes. This is because it is just a tab at the bottom of the screen that is easily accessed. It also makes it easy to load games into the emulator and even keeps track of the games. Reliving the experience of any old game is now easy to do on any Mac computer.
If you are a fan of the old Playstation game “Yu-Gi-Oh Forbidden Memories” then go download the game and use my article, Yu-Gi-Oh ForbiddenMemories Walkthrough, in order to beat the game one last time.
EagleTec Mechanical Keyboard
I finally got my hands on a mechanical keyboard that has blue switches on it. Along with a nice blue backlight. I have only been using the keyboard for a little over a week now but I wouldn’t want to go back to my previous keyboard. I don’t really know what I have been doing all this time, or I guess I should say I don’t know what I was settling for before getting this keyboard. I really like these blue switches, even the noise they make and they do make a lot of noise with this keyboard. This is really not a work keyboard, unless you have your own office. They keys feel really nice and the top of the keyboard is made out of aluminum with a nice brushed finish it looks like. The bottom of the keyboard is made of a hard plastic that feels pretty durable. This keyboard only comes with two different backlight settings, which is static and breathing. It also has an easy option to shut off the backlight so it doesn’t bother you at night. It is also a cheap compared to a lot of mechanical keyboards at around $40, so you don’t go broke just for trying out a mechanical keyboard.
Click Here to get it on amazon.
Betterment: Is it right for you?
Betterment is an investing app that is all about hands off investing. Essentially you are able to set up a goal that you want to reach and then just deposit money into the account. It will give you an estimate in how much you need to put into the account in order to meet the goal that you have set. If you don’t have a specific goal then that is alright. You can use it as a savings account really, just because the savings accounts that banks offer have no real value anymore. The app allows you to even set up automatic deposits from a bank account, which means you really don’t have to think about saving money. I would suggest that whatever you plan on saving per month that you actually split that up into weekly deposits. One of the reasons for this is because it seems like Betterment doesn’t want to readjust your investments until you put more money into the account. This means if you do it weekly then it should keep adjusting the account in order to operate better. Also putting money in weekly usually means you will actually put in more money by the end of the year then if you did things monthly. I wouldn’t spend a lot of time at first looking at what the account is doing because nothing is really going to change until you have at least $1000 in the account. After that point you may want to start keeping an eye on the account, about once a month at most. Even then it won’t seem like to much money will be earned, but this account is for long-term savings really. Don’t bother trying to do short-term savings with this type of account. Overall Betterment does what it sets out to do and even though you won’t get crazy returns on your money it should at least be a better place to stick excess money then a savings account.
Do you have any experience with Betterment? Let us know in the comments.
SoftwareUpdates 